Swimming and Diving Falls at AuburnAll-American and 2012 Olympian Kristel Vourna won the 200 butterfly, posting a time of 2:02.74, while sophomore Lisa Bogosian won the 1-meter competition after tallying 273.30 points

All-American and 2012 Olympian Kristel Vourna won the 200 butterfly, posting a time of 2:02.74.

Oct. 12, 2012

AUBURN, Ala. -
The Alabama men's and women's swimming and diving teams lost at Auburn Friday afternoon. The men's score was 175-68 while the women's was 182-61.

"Coming into today, we knew that on paper this was a mismatch, but we fought to the wall in all the close races," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "Even down to the end when the meet was out of reach, we didn't stop fighting for it, and that's what I'm looking for right now."

Alabama's men and women both go to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in Southeastern Conference competition. It was Auburn's season opener.

"We swam better than we did last week and if we can get better week-by-week like that, we have a chance to have a good season and that's where our focus has to be," Pursley said. "A lot of our folks told me after the meet that they're swimming as well or better than they ever have at this point in the season and they're working a lot harder. If you put those two factors together, this group has a chance to do something special at the end of the season relative to what they've done in the past."

All-American and 2012 Olympian Kristel Vourna won the 200 butterfly, posting a time of 2:02.74, while sophomore Lisa Bogosian won the 1-meter competition after tallying 273.30 points. Junior Paige McCleary was second off the three-meter board after scoring 287.70 points.

On the men's side of the meet, freshmen Brian Westlake and Brett Walsh picked up second-place finishes at opposite ends of the distance spectrum. Westlake was runner-up in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:40.61 while Walsh, making his Crimson Tide debut, was second in the 50 freestyle after touching the wall with a 20.55. Westlake also took second in the 500 freestyle with a 4:35.60.

Junior All-American BJ Hornikel was second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:39.19 while senior Anestis Arampatzis finished less than a tenth of a second out of first in the 200 butterfly, with a 1:50.99.

Alabama has next weekend off from competition while the women return to action on Oct. 26 when they travel to Nashville, Tenn. to take on Vanderbilt.